1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to providing media playback on electronic devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Some portable media players store media assets, such as audio or video tracks, that can be played by the portable media player. One example of a portable media player is the iPod® media player, which is available from Apple Computer, Inc. of Cupertino, Calif. Often, a media player acquires its media assets from a host computer that serves to enable a user to store and manage media assets. In managing media assets, a user can create playlists for audio or video tracks. These playlists can be created at the host computer. Media assets within the playlists can then be copied to the portable media player. As an example, the host computer can execute a media management application to manage media assets. One example of a media management application is iTunes® produced by Apple Computer, Inc.
Conventionally, a portable media player is capable of playing media, such as audio (e.g., songs) or video (e.g., movies) for the benefit of its user. When playing audio, if the portable media player includes a display, the display can present the name of the song, artist and other information pertaining to the song. In the case of playing a video, the display can be used to present the video.
Podcasts are typically used to share content from websites. Podcasts are associated with Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds which use a lightweight XML format. A podcast can be organized into episodes much like a radio or television program. An interested person can subscribe to receive podcast episodes that are subsequently published. This is achieved by the interested person using their computer to access a podcast website that hosts the RSS feed. The interested person can then subscribe to the RSS feed such that their computer occasionally re-visits the podcast website to check for any new podcast episodes. Typically, if a new podcast episode is available, it is downloaded to the computer. Thereafter, the interested user can play the podcast episode at their computer in the same manner as other audio files (e.g., MP3 files). A utility program can be used to download the audio files to a portable media player (e.g., MP3 player).
Unfortunately, however, portable media players are generally not able to dynamically modify or control media item playback. For example, when playing a series of media items from a media item group (e.g., playlist), a portable media player merely sequences through the fixed set of media items. Although playback can be stopped, the media being played is nevertheless limited to play back of the media items within the media item group.
Thus, there is a need for improved techniques to provide media playback by portable media players.